Carphone deepens high street gloom with lower broadband numbers

Thursday 12 June 2008 03.59 EDT
First published on Thursday 12 June 2008 03.59 EDT

The Carphone Warehouse added to the deepening gloom in the high street this morning with a downbeat outlook statement, adding to fears that the next 18 months will be very tough for retailers.

Shares in the telecoms retailer slumped by 11% after it admitted it faced a "poor" economic climate, and blamed a drop in the take-up of its broadband service on fewer people moving house.

The housing slowdown was also cited as a problem today by Home Retail Group, whose Homebase chain has seen its sales hammered in recent months. The company's shares also fell sharply today, and closed down almost 4%.

The retail sector was already under the cosh after analysts at Citi issued a grim warning that trading conditions will weaken this year, and get even worse in 2009.